South Korea have fought back to claim a 2-1 victory over the Football Ferns in their international friendly in Goyang on Saturday.
The Kiwis took a one-goal lead into halftime courtesy of a well-constructed header from Jacqui Hand, only for the Koreans to storm home in the second stanza with a brace of goals to keep the Ferns winless under new coach Jitka Klimkova.
The visitors made the more encouraging start to the match, with Ria Percival's shot from just inside the box blazing agonisingly wide of the right post in the 11th minute.
A few minutes later, Korea came close to claiming a lead, as Hong's header from a corner kick deflected off the crossbar and over to safety.
But New Zealand soon had the goal they were after, when Jacqui Hand latched on to a pinpoint cross from Ali Riley to guide a glancing header home for her first international goal.
The Koreans came out with much more urgency in the second half and were soon rewarded with an equalising goal.
A momentary lapse in the NZ defence allowed Yu-ri to get in behind the line, and Mikayla Moore's desperate attempt to get ahead of the Korean's target resulted in a deflection of the low cross into the net for an own goal.
Goalkeeper Anna Leat was forced to extend to full stretch to parry away Choo's powerful strike in the 51st minute.
In the 81st minute, the Koreans snatched the game-winning goal, with Cho doing brilliantly to keep the ball in play and pick out a hole in the NZ defence for a wide open Seonjoo to head in the decider.
South Korea 2 (Own Goal 59’, Lim Seonjoo 81’) New Zealand 1 (Jacqui Hand 25’). HT: 0-1
